Should My Hen Party Be One Or Two Days?

Continuing our exploration into topics and questions often raised by our customers, today we want to explore whether it is worth booking one or two days for your hen party. This is a common question from our customers, however the most consistent situation is that people are hoping to arrange everything for one day, but want too many things to realistically fit it in, so we will break this down into several points.

Activities

I would first recommend looking at the activities the bride really wants to do, or you think she wants (if you're keeping it a secret). She might want to do afternoon tea, a night out, nude life drawing and a dance class. This is a very normal list of activities that are requested, however you would definitely struggle to fit it all into one day without feeling rushed and potentially a bit stressed, so it would work much better if you were to split the activities over the two days and then have a night out each evening.

Check the times available for each activity, as some may overlap, meaning you would be required to do them over multiple days. For example, if you wanted to book an evening in Adonis, plus a cocktail making class, you might find they both work better in the evening, while doing something a little less alcohol focused during the day.

Age Groups

Often people like to split hen parties into two different groups. The ones involving relatives and family in law, then a slightly more drunken one involving all the friends. This can sometimes mean booking different activities for different members.

Destination

If several people have to travel quite a distance, then it is worth spreading it over a couple of days, so you can transform it into a holiday rather than just an evening. This is why abroad hen parties tend to be an extra couple of days longer than UK based parties. A hen do in Lisbon for example would usually take place over three days. You also might want to spend a day exploring the city, shopping and embracing the culture if you're not from the area, so consider this before deciding.

Availability

This might sound obvious, but have you asked everyone in the group? There will probably be some mums within the group, that will struggle to be away for an entire weekend, making it sometimes easier to book for just the one day. Enquire whether they'd be able to stay away for a whole weekend, as this is always the funner option, but you don't want to set anything in stone and find out half the girls can't come. Try and run dates by people first, highlighting two days, then if people state they can only make one of the two days, you could then build your plan accordingly. You could even have some stay for just one of the nights, then fit the crucial activities onto this day.

My Experience

Yes, that's right, I've been on a hen do. I went to my sister's hen party, as I'm very close friends with her and get on really well with all of her mates. We spent the weekend in Bath (amazing location, but very difficult to book accommodation).

I would say it should definitely be two nights, as otherwise it all goes way too quick. We met up and did a treasure hunt, then had a night out. I seriously couldn't believe how quickly that first day went. I hadn't even chatted to everyone at the party by the time it was over, so it was good to spend the entire next day and night with them all. It therefore didn't fully feel like the 'real experience' until the second day, as we played games all day, we had afternoon tea, got the butler in the buff (OK, that was a bit weird for me) and then went to a bar in town.

One extra tip, always book off the days after as well, it took a few days to recover from the hangover, so if you're planning on going out both Friday and Saturday night, take Monday off as you will still feel rough as hell.